Withered Bones [Wasteland]

[Don’t read pirated copies. They aren’t the same as the original.] [Two powerful heroines | Supernatural abilities | Love and hate] A lost lamb X a bewitching bone demon. [Part One] Ever since she turned twenty, An He has dreamed the same dream every night. In the dream, a skeleton stands amid the mist and softly calls her name. “An He, come here. Come here...” The nightmare tormented her for three years, nearly driving her mad. Frequent blackouts came with the nightmares, until on her birthday, An He fell into a deep sleep. She woke again in an unsealed tomb. Opening her eyes in a pit, An He found that the whole world had changed. The sky was dim, miasma filled the air, and towering iron walls stood across the wasteland. The people guarding the city said that beyond the fortress were man-eating beasts and mutated creatures. No humans had survived. But An He clearly saw a woman in red standing in the mist, watching her and beckoning. The woman from her dream was flesh and blood, smiling as she touched An He’s face and pressed her lips, with no sense of personal boundaries. “My name is Gu Xianqing. Remember it.” [Part Two] Humanity’s order has been reshuffled. An He navigates between people and monsters. The woman named Gu Xianqing helps and guides her in public, but secretly toys with her, demanding her submission and devotion. An He refuses. She drives a long blade into Gu Xianqing’s waist and bites through her tongue. She can’t tell whose blood fills her mouth or stains her lashes. A deep kiss becomes a wager on their growing feelings, with blood and wounds thrown in as a bonus. An He swears that Gu Xianqing should be the one who is devoted to her. They never speak of love. They speak only of hatred, desire, goals, using each other, and “Don’t die. I still have a use for you.” [Part Three] In a land without people, a skeleton has lain on the flagstones for years. Vines wind around its leg bones and climb its spine. In the hollow of its left chest, a vivid red flower blooms. One day, at last, it awaits a woman. Her fingertips brush its cheek, trace its jade-like cervical vertebrae, and caress its cracked, mottled ribs. At last, her hand slips into its chest and crushes the only spark of life within. Gu Xianqing: “Can’t you feel my heart beating?” An He: “You’re already dead.” “I can die for you one more time.” Ha, just kidding. The “Wasteland of Dry Bones” supertopic on Weibo has lots of fan works. Come take a look! Reader’s guide: 1. A violent wasteland setting with lots of characters getting hurt. Technology has regressed, civilization is being rebuilt, and resources are scarce. This is not cyberpunk. 2. This is a plot-driven story, plot-driven, plot-driven. Romance is secondary. It’s an ensemble cast, all women. 3. One of the heroines, Gu Xianqing, isn’t a conventional good person. Their relationship is truly love and hate, and intimacy doesn’t necessarily mean someone has feelings. It could also be deception or exploitation, and it’s hard to tell which. If this isn’t your thing, please read with caution. 4. It’s perfectly normal not to like the story or find it to your taste. Everyone likes different things. Please comment rationally and don’t swear. 5. This is a serious drama, not a breezy power fantasy. I don’t recommend buying the whole book without trying it first. The safest way is to buy one chapter at a time. 6. I rarely check comments after finishing a novel. If you have questions, send me a private message on Weibo. I’ve enabled paragraph comments, so you can comment if you save the novel. Happy reading! (Piracy protection is set to 50%. Please don’t read pirated copies. If you do, don’t come here to comment. Seeing it is annoying.) My next novel will be This Colleague Is Acting Strange [Cyberpunk], a plot-driven, feel-good story about love and hate. A sunny assassin from the outer district X a cold-blooded law enforcer from the central district. Two heroines. One collects corpses by day and kills by night. The other kills by day and collects corpses by night. A fully drafted collection of strange tales [upcoming]: Parasite Tree Fu Qingshan attends her grandmother’s funeral and comes into contact with an antiques club that collects wood. But there’s something unusual about this wood. Can ordinary wood really parasitize people? Visit my profile to add it to your favorites. Completed apocalypse novel: Playing a Zombie in a Survival Game A completed, plot-driven, feel-good story about love and hate. Ready to read! Theme: Even among the thorns, a guiding light remains.